


Too Personal

by Unforth



Series: Tumblr Ficlets: Supernatural [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 08:12:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10693062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforth/pseuds/Unforth
Summary: Tumblr ficlet written to the prompt: angels don't really get the whole concept of personal ownership of belongings (outside of weaponry). So back in season 8 when Castiel is going through Dean's stuff it's not so much a moment of 'we are good friends who are allowed a certain amount of leniency with each other's things' as it was Castiel being comfortable enough to do more "angel-y" things around Dean and investigating what exactly it was that humans carted around with them everywhere.





	Too Personal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Firebog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firebog/gifts).



> A couple days the last few weeks, I've taken prompts for short fics and written and posted them on Tumblr. I wanted to post them on AO3 as well but have been considering how best to do so. A quick survey of my subscribers and followers suggests that people would prefer if I post them all as individual stories and put them in a series together instead of as multiple chapters on the same file or any other of several options, so that's what I'm doing.
> 
> Please note that I generally do not take "out of nowhere" prompts, cause I don't have time, but I will sometimes ask people to send me ideas and I'll write them in the order I receive them. 
> 
> You can follow me on Tumblr at [unforth-ninawaters](unforth-ninawaters.tumblr.com).
> 
> Make sure you read the prompt! 
> 
> [~original post~](http://unforth-ninawaters.tumblr.com/post/159340833368/a-head-canon-for-you-angels-dont-really-get-the)
> 
> Prompt, from Firebog_Tour_Guide:  
> A head canon for you: angels don't really get the whole concept of personal ownership of belongings (outside of weaponry). So back in season 8 when Castiel is going through Dean's stuff it's not so much a moment of 'we are good friends who are allowed a certain amount of leniency with each other's things' as it was Castiel being comfortable enough to do more "angel-y" things around Dean and investigating what exactly it was that humans carted around with them everywhere.

And so when Dean is later all, “dude, kinda personal!” Cas is actually _intrigued_. This is an angle of human nature he’s never seen before. What’s “personal” about a bunch of inanimate objects? Trying to puzzle it out, Cas will ask Sam for permission to go through _his_  things, and Sam says, “sure whatever,” and Cas is even more confused because Sam’s belongings are nearly identical to Dean’s, yet Dean feels this is “too personal” and Sam doesn’t care. He goes through the trunk of the Impala, which neither of them mind, and he asks even other humans.

Most think it’s weird, but most don’t mind.

Increasingly, Cas starts to think this is specifically a _Dean_  thing. He’s spent millenia watching humanity but understanding just one human is often the most challenging part. Come to think, Dean’s been acting weird since purgatory. So he comes up with a theory - maybe having nothing of his own, nothing but the same disgusting clothes to wear day in and day out, has made possessions more intrinsic to Dean than they are to Sam? It doesn’t make sense in light of Dean’s other life experiences, but, then, Dean doesn’t make sense to Cas and never has. Cas tests this theory, but can’t find any supporting evidence for it. Giving Dean new, impersonal objects doesn’t convince him to allow Cas access, and when Dean discards old objects they somehow move beyond this field of “too personal.”

Cas is baffled.

But Dean is the one that snaps first.

“Cas, why you gotta keep _pushing_? What’s the big deal?”

“That’s what I’m trying to understand.”

“Huh?”

“Why do you feel it’s not appropriate for me to see your belongings?”

“Because…because…because they’re _mine_.”

“Well, yes, by definition. That’s why I’m curious. If they belonged to a stranger they’d not be as interesting to me.”

“Exactly! Those are…those are _my_  jeans, and _my_  shirts, and my…my…my _condoms_ …” Dean starts to trail off but can’t seem to stop himself from adding weakly, “…and _my underwear_ …”

“And? Are they significantly different from Sam’s underwear and Sam’s underwear?”

“Fuckin’…TMI, dude. TMI.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to think about my brother having _sex_ , that’s why.”

That gives Castiel something to chew on. He ponders it for a few minutes, then finally, slowly says, “So you are uncomfortable with my examining your belongings because of your inference that, in the same way that when I talk about your brother’s condoms, you imagine your brother having sex, you suppose that when I see your condoms, I imagine you having sex?”

“Fuck…yeah…fine…I guess so…”

“Why should I care about you having sex, Dean?” That, at least, is a total lie. Castiel cares. Castiel really, really cares.

“Because…oh…you mean…you mean you don’t? I thought…never fricken mind. This conversation is done. Stop asking.”

“Wait. Dean.” A second insight has struck Castiel and what once wasn’t important suddenly is earth shattering, monumental, critical.

“End of discussion, Castiel.” Dean turns and walks across the motel room, lays his hand on the door knob.

_Castiel._

_He never calls me that anymore_.

“If they were _my_  condoms, would you imagine _me_  having sex? And would such thoughts be as unwelcome to you as imagining Sam having sex?”

At least Dean stands and listens.

He’s silent for a long, long time. Castiel wonders if he’s finally pushed Dean too far. But finally, without turning back, Dean says, “I guess…I guess it’d kinda depend…who you’re having sex with…”

It takes some hashing out from there before they work shit out, but it really proves to be all semantics.

Once Dean has assurance that the only person Castiel would ever imagine having sex with is Dean, it doesn’t take much to work out after that.


End file.
